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GM Advice: How to Name the Streets in Your Settlements

Every GM I’ve ever met names the various villages, towns and cities in his campaign. It’s as normal and natural as naming a world’s rivers, forests and mountain ranges. What few GMs do, however, is take the time to name the streets, alleys and other thoroughfares of their settlements.

By Maciej Zagorski (The Forge Studios)

Don’t get me wrong; no GM has the time to name every road, street and alley in a given town, but naming a few helps bring the settlement alive in the players’ minds. For example:

Why is that shady lane called Dagger Alley?

Why is that road called Dead Troll Road?

Is it worth avoiding Beggars’ Way?

Is Temple Avenue a good place to find magical healing?

What could possibly go wrong on Cutthroat Alley?

Such questions not only breathe life into the setting, but can even lead to interesting minor encounters or even the genesis of the PCs’ next adventure. Adventurers venturing down Cutthroat Alley, for example, deserve everything they get while those wandering Market Street might discover a bargain or hear a particularly juicy rumour.

Naming Conventions

There are many different way a road could be named. Here are a few of the most common styles:

[Descriptor] street/alley/lane: Example, Dagger Lane, North Street and so on.

Street of [Descriptor]: Example, Street of Swords, Road of the Dragon and so on.

[Feature] street/alley/lane: Example, Water Street, Church Way and so on.

Things to Name a Road After

Once chosen, a name can enhance a town’s flavour and verisimilitude. Roads can be named for or after a variety of features, events or personalities. For example,

Major Building or Urban Feature: If a road runs to or passed an important urban feature, sometimes the road becomes known by that feature. For example, a road running passed the lord’s castle may be known as Castle Street, while a road festooned with temples might be called Temple Way. Streets could also one named for churches, local markets, town gates and so on. Similarly, a street linking the town to a nearby village may become known by the name of the village.

Business Type: In an urban area, businesses often cluster together, and within this mercantile district sometimes businesses of the same type establish themselves nearby to one another. So, for example, a street might become known as the Street of the Smiths for all the metalworkers found there. The more important locally a trade is, the more likely a street will be named after it.

Proper Name: Perhaps someone famous lived or once lived on the street. Alternatively, a street could be named after a legendary personage thought to have once visited the area or even someone who died there. Some streets could even be named after deities and other semi-mythical beings. Additionally, streets could be named after important local families, famed bands of adventurers and so on.

Feature: A street running by a river might become known by the name of the river—for example, Fleet Walk—while a road running in a cardinal direction may be called North Street. For example, in my home town, Abbey Road leads toward the ruins of an abbey, Market Street still hosts a market and Fleet Walk runs over the River Fleet (which now flows under the road). Other examples could include Water Street, Marsh Lane and so on.

History: Sometimes streets are named for events of either local or national importance. Perhaps a troll was slain on Dead Troll Street and it was named (or renamed) to commemorate the event. Alternatively, a street could be named after a prominent local—perhaps Culven’s Way—or for some feature that no longer exists (or which is now buried beneath the modern town).

Flavour: If the party head down Dagger Alley before turning into Cutthroat Lane it’s a pretty clear indication they are entering an unsavoury part of town. Similarly, the Street of Silks likely stands in a nicer part of town while many towers probably flank the Avenue of Spires. Street names are a quick and simple way to impart a location’s flavour.

Other Things to Name

Of course, a GM doesn’t have to stop at naming streets. There’s lots of other things to name in a town. Such features include:

Bridges

Gates

Markets

Squares/plazas

Wharfs/docks

Hills

Rivers/streams

Not all Roads are Created Equal

When naming a street, road or alley the GM should be aware that some kinds of streets occur only in certain parts of town. For example, alleys and lanes probably don’t have much of a place in the posher areas while boulevards and avenues—normally wide, tree-lined roads—have no place in the slum. Thus make certain to only place the various roads types where they make sense these definitions:

Anywhere: Street, road, way, walk

Nice Parts of Town: avenue, boulevard

Seedier Parts of Town: Alley, lane

Mercantile Parts of Town: Row, end

A Final Note

The information in this article can easily be adapted to naming the streets and lanes of any village or city—even those inhabited by nonhumans. Remember, even a small village with only two streets probably has names for both—otherwise how do locals get around, give directions to travellers and so on?

Creighton is the publisher at Raging Swan Press and the designer of the award winning adventure Madness at Gardmore Abbey. He has designed many critically acclaimed modules such as Retribution and Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands and worked with Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Expeditious Retreat Press, Rite Publishing and Kobold Press.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

4 thoughts on “GM Advice: How to Name the Streets in Your Settlements”

Thanks for this article! It will be really helpful running our https://fyxtrpg.com/ games. Just about everyone at the table has a different idea to GM and this will be very helpful for bringing their settings to life.

I can totally see more adventure ideas and history being invented along the way just by naming the major streets and features of an area.

I’m been toying with this, I’m needing to remake the city of Cauldron from the Shackled City AP as at least one of my players owns the hardback book. Thanks for posting it, it solidifies some of what I was thinking about.

One other option used is to name streets after their perceived destination- whether its heading to another village / town or geographical feature.

this could be general “great north road” or specific “hobbiton way”

thats probably more common in smaller settlements where the roads are literally passing through or for the majot roads in larger settlements. In terms of flavour this gives an opportunity to develop the relationship between towns and cities in your world

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